Yoga as a Path

I’ve been thinking about this quote lately by Rumi: “It’s your road, and yours alone, others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.” Yoga is a place to practice this concept of walking our own road, and also walking it with along with others.

Community, friends, and fellow yogis make the journey easier. Being in a yoga class, and having someone next to you in class, can be supportive, even if you don’t know their name!

In the early 2000’s I attended quite a few Yoga Journal Magazine conferences. These events were a place to take yoga classes with popular teachers during the weekend. I remember being in Shiva Rea’s trance dance at the downtown San Francisco Hyatt and having a long savasana at the end of class. It was also the last class of the conference and I was so tired and fell deep into my relaxation, I barely noticed anything that was going on around me!

When the class was over, a woman that had been practiced near me, came up to me and said, “thank you,” and promptly left. Since I didn’t get a chance to talk to her, I don’t know exactly why she was thanking me. But I had a feeling she was thanking me for sharing the energetic space together.

I felt grateful for this gesture of being seen and appreciated while I was far into my inner experience. As the quote from Rumi above shares: we walk the road on our own and others may walk it with us. I hadn’t been trying to influence or reach out to anyone in class, but being present for my own practice had made an effect on someone else. And in turn, their experience had made an impact on me.

How do you walk on your yoga journey? Have you had times when your presence alone created a shift in the room? Have you felt influenced or supported by someone on your path?